John Rowe: This NCAA tournament is up for grabs

Any college basketball fan worth his NCAA tournament bracket appreciates how wacky this season has been.

From No. 1-ranked teams seemingly being upset every week to a high-profile head coach calling his team the worst in school history, this season has been more unpredictable than Charlie Sheen’s behavior.

Maybe that’s why by some estimates, perhaps a bit exaggerated, there are 30 teams worthy of winning a national championship.

One is Kansas, one of the top four seeds in the 68-team field. After the Jayhawks lost at Texas Tech, arguably the worst team in the Big 12, in early February, Bill Self, the usually composed Kansas coach, described his team as the worst in school history.

Other championship contenders have their flaws.

Louisville would be a lock if it played the defense that suffocated Syracuse in the second half of Saturday night’s Big East tournament final. The Cardinals, however, could be headed home early if their offense resembles their first half against the Orange.

Indiana is a favorite of many, but the Hoosiers have lost six games, including two to Wisconsin, and certainly didn’t look bound for Atlanta, where this year’s Final Four is being held, in losing a 12th straight game to the Badgers in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

In case you haven’t stayed up late to watch Gonzaga, the Zags are legitimate contenders. But there’s always the doubts about how they’ll react to the pressure that comes with advancing deep into the tournament. Simply a case of never been there, never done that.Yes, March Madness will be more maddening than ever.

What happens after a champion is crowned is another story. No matter how bigger, quicker and stronger the players are, basketball purists tell us the game is not the same.

There are a lot of reasons why, beginning with the one-and-done players who head to the NBA after only one season. Many of them are not prepared for what’s ahead, just as many of the underclassmen-dominated teams are not prepared for the demands of the NCAA tournament.

Take St. John’s, which was denied a Big Dance invitation because of a late-season swoon, for example. As Red Storm coach Steve Lavin said in a TV interview last week, coaching a young team like his requires so much instruction that he refers to it as “Romper Room.’’

There’s no innocence in other elements of college basketball. Recruiting is a giant cesspool that’s getting grimier by the day, punctuated by media outlets that rank recruits as early as seventh grade and shower them with premature praise.

As a prominent college coach admitted recently, the last thing he would want to be these days is a high school coach.

That’s because AAU coaches have more influence on a growing number of high school prospects. They’re the ones who take them around the counties for summer tournaments. They often are the ones who steer them toward certain colleges. Some even go as far as to have the prospect live with them.

“No wonder the kids don’t listen to the high school coach,” the coach said.

Maybe that’s why so many players and teams are fundamentally unsound. In the “SportsCenter’’ era, players are more conscious of dunking or hitting a long three-pointer that earns them face time on the sports network than they are of setting screens to free up a teammate or getting down and dirty on defense.

Taking all of that into account, I’ve decided that Miami is going to win the national championship.

The Hurricanes, the ACC regular season and tournament champion, are a rare mixture of experience and talent.

Miami has five players 22 years old or older. The ’Canes start four seniors, and the only non-senior is sophomore point guard Shane Larkin, son of baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who is their best player. After a late-season slump, Miami, which has beaten North Carolina three times and split with Duke, looked sharp in winning the ACC tournament.

Of course, there are no guarantees. March Madness should be an extension of this wacky season.

Louisville's Peyton Siva (3) celebrates with teammates after their Big East tournament championship victory over Syracuse at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Louisville was at the Big East Conference tournament, Saturday, March 16, is No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region.